


There Need Be Only One

by Wilusa



Series: Origins [16]
Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-12
Updated: 2011-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-14 16:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/151448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilusa/pseuds/Wilusa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe Dawson's killing of another Watcher may have unforeseen consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Need Be Only One

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: _Highlander_ and its canon characters are the property of Davis/Panzer Productions; no copyright infringement is intended.

"Joe Dawson can't be allowed to get away with this!" Arnaud Molari crumpled a computer printout and hurled it across the room, then swiveled his chair - violently - to face the window. "We've let him break every rule in the book. But killing a fellow Watcher is unforgivable. He actually emptied the damn gun into Matt!"

Behind him, Brian Kirk cleared his throat and said, "Uh, it wasn't all Dawson's fault. He didn't know the Tribunal had authorized us to bag Duncan MacLeod and force him into a new Sanctuary."

The Chairman of the Tribunal spun around and glared at him. He didn't like being reminded that they bore a share of the blame.

If Dawson had been told of their plan, he would have died fighting to thwart it.

But the need was urgent. In the original Sanctuary, a thousand-year-old Watcher project, Immortal volunteers had been kept drugged to assure that none of their race would become the last survivor. That project had been wrecked in the course of Jacob Kell's vendetta against Connor MacLeod. All the volunteers were dead, with the possible exception of the vanished Connor. And Kell couldn't be forced to take their place, because he'd been beheaded by Connor's clansman Duncan.

Kirk met his superior's gaze without flinching. "It's not like Dawson won't pay," he argued. "When we finally do take MacLeod, he'll grieve for the rest of his life."

At last Molari said grudgingly, "True. And you people are probably right that we shouldn't try another snatch too soon. We'll let Dawson believe you were renegades, and we've decided to drop the Sanctuary altogether. Then when MacLeod disappears, he'll think he was killed by some unknown Immortal."

"And MacLeod's the _only_ one you'll have to take against his will," said the slender man perched on a corner of his desk.

Molari shifted uncomfortably. "You don't have to do this. You absolutely don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do," the Immortal said softly. "It's personal with MacLeod and me - he'd never tell Dawson, but he's probably hunting me right now. I'll join you in hunting him, and then you can have both of us.

"I won't pretend I'm happy about it. I don't want to sleep for all eternity, any more than he does.

"But the value of the Sanctuary depends on its having at least two Immortals in stasis, so neither of them can become the last survivor. Even if the last remaining _free_ Immortal was beheaded by a mortal, or decapitated in an explosion, a lone survivor held in stasis might receive a 'Prize' that would turn him into an uncontrollable, power-mad maniac.

"So the Sanctuary has to have two. No more are required. And when you've devoted your whole adult life to an ideal -" Former Watcher Matthew Hale managed a strained smile. "You can't sing a different tune when it hits close to home."

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The End

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 _ **Author's Afterword:**_ _This short-short was suggested by_ Highlander: Endgame _, but has been reworked to make sense for readers who didn't see the film in all its versions. It's in the Producers' Cut of_ Endgame _that Joe kills Matthew Hale; he really does empty his gun into him. The longer Rough Cut makes it clear Hale was going for his own gun at the time, prepared to shoot Joe. Hale's becoming Immortal is strictly my idea._


End file.
